Two weeks have passed since I arrived in the area. My studies have been good and I have learned something about the local specialties. I have not seen Frederick since I left King’s Landing, but I have not worried.
He gave me a nice dress and I have no shortage of clothes. After all, you don’t have to prepare your own food, you can bathe in the spacious spa every day if you want, and there’s a bath in your room if you want to keep it simple.
Dorothy said it was small, but compared to the bathtub, it was much bigger and you could stretch your legs and relax.
It’s a great environment, very different from anything I’ve seen before. I already liked it here. The servants are all very nice and talkative. Or will I be so lonely and abandoned that my husband won’t love me if I stay here long?
(No, probably not…)
My husband is a good looking man, but he has a sword scar on his face and is scary, so I don’t want to see him if I can help it…. Maybe?
But I want to express my gratitude for this treatment, not in writing, but in person.
I’d like to meet you in person, not in writing.
When I look out the window after a cup of tea between studying, I always see a tower rising into the sky. It’s a magnificent structure, but there’s no one around, as if it’s abandoned.
“Dorothy, is the tower unused?”
Yes, the master used to use it, but I was told that it is closed now because the enemy doesn’t come as far as this mansion.
“I see…”
Liddell’s birthplace is not what you would call a castle. It’s just a big house. So there are no gates and no towers. So I was more than a little curious.
But I can’t just go off on my own when I’ve been assigned a place. Besides, this mansion is too big for Liddell to live in alone, and it has a garden. No more luxury.
“I’d like to take a look inside sometime.”
“They say it’s dangerous because it hasn’t been maintained in years.”
“Yeah, that’s too bad.”
Liddell ended her curiosity there and returned to her studies. She has to work as a deputy mistress while her husband is away from the estate. He wanted to learn things quickly because he was a soldier and anything could happen at any time.
Suddenly Liddell is awakened in the middle of the night by the howling of wolves. It’s not dawn yet.
Unable to sleep for some reason, he gets out of bed, opens the curtains and sees a large full moon in the night sky. It is a slightly red moon, more confusing than beautiful. A tower stands quietly under the falling stars. There was a glimmer of light.
Liddell stares. There is no mistaking it. At the top of the tower, a light flickers and moves.
Dorothy said the top of the tower is closed, I think. Could it be bandits? No, they can’t get in through those high gates. There are soldiers who belong to the Weller family and a strong gatekeeper. The thought frightens Liddell and he quickly draws the curtains.
“You don’t think… A ghost?”
That night, he crawls into bed, shivering.
“Okusama.”
“Okusama, a letter from King’s Landing.”
The next afternoon Dorothy brings me two letters. She takes the trouble to prepare tea and cakes for me, even though I didn’t ask her to. Before I knew it, I had come to trust her. At the same time, her husband’s presence faded.
When I looked at the addresses, one letter was from my uncle and the other from Gilbert. I thought about tearing it up and throwing it away, but I was curious about the business. I had no choice but to cut the seal.
Gilbert told me that Yvonne is in distress. He wants her to come to King’s Landing instead of the Marquess and apologize to Liddell at the ball in front of everyone for losing her place in society because the Marquess accused Yvonne in front of everyone. This was promptly rejected because I never thought Gilbert could be so stupid.
I thought of setting it on fire in a fit of rage, but then decided to keep it just in case.
Then he reluctantly opens the letter from his uncle. But the contents were a little more serious: the Marquis had broken his promise and would not repay his debt. Is this a punishment for being angry about Yvonne’s case?
I don’t take my uncle’s word for it, but since we don’t know who my husband is yet, we can’t afford not to find out. Liddell came here to settle her debt.
She immediately asked Howard to arrange a meeting with her husband. She gives him a letter from her uncle.
The next day he wrote back that he had to check on something and asked her to wait a little. I wanted to meet him and talk to him face to face, but he still wouldn’t see Liddell.
Living on the same property and talking in writing….
